How to harvest info from your family tree

Aunt Julie backed you into a corner on Christmas Eve and started up again with her incredible stories about your family’s history. Have you ever wanted to backtrack and find out which of those tales are true? Sign up for Saturday’s “Mining Life Stories” class through UCLA Extension.

There you’ll learn about digging in and doing solid research through one-on-one interviews, tracing your genealogical history, and using the Internet. Instructor and author Troy Kathleen Corley will give tips on how to create profiles, follow a chronology and tie personal moments into important events of the era.

Students also will get pointers on getting over the fear of first-time interviewing and drawing hesitant talkers into serious conversation. If all those stories are true, your book might just make the bestseller list. Then you can thank Aunt Julie by taking her on a cruise.

“Mining Life Stories” class meets Saturday in Room 2333 of the Public Policy Building, UCLA, Westwood. $90. 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Info: (310) 825-9971 or (818) 784-7006, or visit uclaextension.org.

-- Anne Valdespino